WASHINGTON — He’s one of the finest actors of his generation, consistently ahead of the curve by picking projects with the most visionary of filmmakers.
Surely, there would be no “Requiem for a Dream” (2000) without his “Trainspotting” (1996)聽nor an聽entire era of musicals (“Chicago,” “Dreamgirls,” “Les Mis”) without聽his “Moulin Rouge!” (2001).
Did we mention he聽was聽also聽Obi freakin’聽Wan?
Now, Ewan McGregor attempts to do it again with Rodrigo Garcia’s (2016), now playing in limited release at . The film explores the聽Biblical tale of Jesus fasting in the desert for 40 days, while grappling with The Devil over the fate of a family in crisis.
“[We] invented a story within that period when Jesus was in the desert, which isn’t really covered very much in The Bible,” McGregor told 海角精品黑料. “There’s not聽a great deal written about it.”
Making the project even juicier is that McGregor plays聽both Jesus and Lucifer.聽If this were Ingmar Bergman’s “The Seventh Seal” (1957), Max von Sydow聽would be playing chess against himself.聽As the Rolling聽Stones sang,聽“As heads is tails, just call me Lucifer,” suggesting two sides of the same coin.
“I [was]聽very daunted by playing Jesus … and thinking about how to portray somebody who’s known personally in a very deep way by so many people in the world,” McGregor said.聽“Then I realized once we got down there in the desert … that I hadn’t given The Devil very much thought at all. But he seemed to come a little bit more naturally to me anyway. I don’t know what that tells you about me.”
Joking aside, the prospect of playing Christ is daunting no matter the angle.聽Do you go traditional like William Wyler’s “Ben-Hur” (1959), Nicholas Ray’s “King of Kings” (1961) or George Stevens’ “The Greatest Story Ever Told” (1965)? Do you disguise it like Carl Theodor Dreyer’s “Ordet” (1955)? Do you spark controversy like Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation of Christ” (1988)? Or do you infuse violence to become brutally bludgeoned like Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” (2004)?
Arguably the closest聽depiction remains Pier Paolo Pasolini’s “The Gospel According to St. Matthew” (1964), painting Jesus Christ as a Pope Francis-style聽marxist avant-la-lettre聽(before you scoff like some Pharisee, think of Jesus turning over the money tables in the temple and it makes total sense).
Amid so many past portrayals,聽McGregor said it was important to take his own unique approach, namely trying to forget that it was even about Jesus at all and instead focus on the parental themes.
“We never ever set out to make a gospel movie. We didn’t set out to make a film about Jesus. That wasn’t the point,” McGregor explained. “What we did was set out to make a film about the exploration of this parental-child relationship, and the leading figure just happened to be Jesus.”
It’s a deeply personal theme for Colombian-born writer/director Rodrigo Garcia, son of the late filmmaker聽Gabriel Garc铆a M谩rquez (“Jose and Pilar,” “Love in the Time of Cholera”), who died in 2014.
“It’s聽really a film about fathers and sons,” McGregor said, pausing to send his daughter to school.
“Rodrigo had a very powerful father … and I’m not suggesting he wrote about his own relationship [strictly聽autobiographically], but the relationship between a son and a very powerful father. And he ended up writing just about the biggest and most powerful one of all, which was Jesus and God.”
Film by film, Garcia has built his own legacy in his own right: “Nine Lives” (2005), starring Kathy Baker, Glenn Close and Robin Wright, “Mother and Child” (2009), starring Naomi Watts, Annette Bening and Kerry Washington, and TV’s “Blue” (2012), starring Julia Stiles and Kathleen Quinlan.
“He’s a really brilliant filmmaker,” McGregor said. “He’s made choices to make the films he makes and keep control of them and isn’t a director for hire, but really a director as an artist.”
In “Last Days,” Garcia reunites with聽his old聽friend Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki, who’s won the Best Cinematography Oscar the past three years: “Gravity” (2013), “Birdman” (2014) and “The Revenant.”
“I know Chivo, our kids go to the same school,” McGregor said. “I like his style.聽… We had some night scenes around a campfire, so there were a few lights, but really we were in the middle of a desert so we couldn’t drive [gear] in. … During the day, he really only used available light … It was just amazing to watch his artistry and how important it was to be shooting in the right light at the right time.”
As the sun entered its optimal location, the actors had to be ready to roll in small windows of time.
“We would be there at 4:30 in the morning waiting for the sun to come up, and then we’d try to shoot a scene in that light just as the sun was coming up,” McGregor said. “So it was really interesting the impact that his work, his expertise had on the actual shooting of the film. It was hand-in-hand.”
McGregor is no stranger to talented filmmakers. His body of work is filled with visionaries:聽Todd Haynes’ “Velvet Goldmine” (1998), Ridley Scott’s “Black Hawk Down” (2001), Tim Burton’s “Big Fish” (2003), Marc Forster’s “Stay” (2005), Michael Bay’s “The Island” (2009), Mike Mills’ “Beginners” (2010), Lasse Hallstr枚m’s “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” (2011),聽J.A. Bayona’s聽“The Impossible” (2012),聽John Wells’聽“August: Osage County” (2013) and Don Cheadle’s “Miles Ahead” (2016).
But of all of these filmmakers, 海角精品黑料 asked McGregor to contrast the styles of his three most famous flicks. First and foremost, there’s the British masterpiece “Trainspotting” (1996), directed by聽Danny Boyle, who also cast McGregor in “Shallow Grave”聽(1994) and聽聽“A Life Less Ordinary” (1997). No one will ever聽forget the film’s drug-addict trips of falling through floors and babies crawling on ceilings.
“Danny was my first director,” McGregor said. “[He]聽rehearsed with the actors alone on set. [He] would bring the D.P. in and then [he] would show the crew before we shot it. … He encourages you to have something to aim for in every take. He doesn’t just say, ‘One more,’ he’s giving you things to reach for. As an actor, that’s very satisfying. You come home feeling like you’ve done your best work.”
After proving his gritty, head-shaven, drugged-out side, McGregor did a 180 and earned a suave Golden Globe nod in the lavish musical聽“Moulin Rouge!” (2001). If you doubted his pipes, just listen to him聽belt the and alongside Nicole Kidman, as director聽Baz Luhrmann pulls out all the stops, including flipping his camera upsidedown across Paris.
“Baz definitely聽[is]聽a wonderful fantasist and a great imaginator and a wonderer,” McGregor said.聽“I loved his spirit that anything’s possible. I loved working with him very much. Again, there’s something about his exploring through takes, encouraging you to keep searching for different flavors in a scene.”
Then, of course, there’s his most notable blockbuster, “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” (1999), the first of three “Star Wars” prequels directed by George Lucas. Not only was McGregor given the esteemed honor of playing the younger version of Alec Guinness’ Obi-Wan Kenobi, he got the chance to work with Lucas, a pioneer of digital effects and an epic dreamer of faraway worlds.
“George is a different ballgame because it was so technical,” McGregor said. “The ‘Star Wars’ films were a very technical exercise. I don’t think I would make a film like that myself, a green screen type.”
So what type of film聽would McGregor choose to make? Oh wait, he already has.
Behold, his feature film directorial debut (2016),聽starring McGregor,聽Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Connelly, Molly Parker, Uzo Aduba, Rupert Evans and David Strathairn.聽Based on a novel by Philip Roth, the drama is set in postwar America, as a man watches his seemingly perfect life fall apart thanks to his聽daughter’s new political affiliation.聽The film is聽set for release on Oct. 28.
After that,聽get ready for the 2017 release of the anticipated sequel “Trainspotting 2,” for which McGregor is reuniting with Boyle in a production that begins two weeks from now in Scotland.
“Although I worked with him 20 years ago, he sort of taught me how I think it’s done best.”
Ewan, you’ve taught a lot of us how it’s done best.
Click for more info on “Last Days in the Desert.” Listen to the full interview with Ewan McGregor below:
